My Moving NIghtmare

My kids and I have been getting ready to move for weeks. We were leaving a large four bedroom house and moving into a much smaller townhouse. We've been packing, throwing things away, selling things, and generally just downsizing. Anyone who's ever moved (and that's probably just about everyone) knows all that you go through to make sure the move goes as smoothly as possible.

I tried. I did everything I knew to do. I made lists, I enlisted help from friends, I made phone calls, and as far as I knew, everything was in order. I should have known better. Several weeks ago, I decided on a moving company. I had talked to two different ones, and I chose the one I liked best. I wrote down all the information, and I was ready for my movers to come on Saturday morning at 8:00 - the agreed upon time. By that time, we had moved all the boxes ourselves and many of the smaller items like bookcases and dressers. We were ready and waiting.

At 8:30 when the movers still hadn't shown, I attempted to call them. I say attempted because it wasn't as easy as it sounds. I was at my house, and my paperwork was at my new townhouse. First mistake. I didn't even have their phone number with me. I had to call information, and when I talked to one of the owners of the moving company, he tried to convince me that I hadn't scheduled them. According to him, I had only inquired about their services; I hadn't actually booked them. Well, this was news to me! Bad news. Unbelievable news.

Luckily, my new townhouse was only ten minutes away, and I was able to retrieve my paperwork fairly quickly. Even with my information, however, the owner still did not believe me. I even had an account number that confirmed that I had, indeed, scheduled their movers for 8:00 that morning. To make a long story short, I finally talked to a woman who knew what was going on. No offense guys, but do you want to talk to the man in charge or the woman who knows what's going on? That's exactly how I felt. She saw where I had scheduled movers and had even gotten a confirmation call two days before (which I later remembered receiving). She apologized profusely and got me a team of movers. Well, seven hours later she got me a team of movers. The company did nothing to make the situation right, and there was no recourse for me since it is a family owned business. I could contact the Better Business Bureau, and I probably should, but I am just happy that I finally got movers and got settled. I know I will never use this company again, and I did fill out a survey explaining my complaint.

I wonder what I could have done differently. I know I should have kept my paperwork in my possession at all times, but I'm not sure how much that would have helped since the owner wasn't interested in my information. I know that there was one thing I did right. I didn't let the man convince me that I hadn't scheduled his movers. I was persistent enough that I finally got to talk to someone who believed me. I didn't back down when I knew I was right. If I had, I know we would have been renting a u-haul and moving ourselves. While that might not have been so terrible if I could have gotten enough help, I'm certainly very glad it didn't come to that.